This Damned Band

December 5, 2016
Using a slice-and-dice filmic perspective, writer Cornell (Doctor Who) roots his chaotic narrative around one you-had-to-be-there moment that he circles back to with increasing centrifugal force and ever more energetic artwork by Parker (Mass Effect). The story follows Motherfather, an arena rock band circa 1974. They’re laden with the expected Spinal Tap–esque trappings: the happily cynical lead singer in the Roger Daltrey–like vest, contract riders demanding particular colors of Smarties in the dressing room, bare-midriff groupies flinging themselves onto the members like moths into a candle, and a documentary crew catching it all on film. The band is dealing with the usual tensions of being in fame’s drug-fueled spotlight, and they’re also having a larger issue: they may just have brought the devil incarnate into the world during a concert. That could explain their visions, why all the groupies are disappearing, and their manager’s gleeful sadism. Or it could just be a very, very bad trip. This is a witty twist on classic rock’s infatuation with the dark arts.

September 15, 2016

In this fantastic tale of 1970s musical excess and madness, guitarist Clive Stanley leads the hard-rocking English band Motherfather, who only flirt with devil worship--or so they think. After a possibly psychedelic but potentially genuinely demonic incident at Japan's Budokan arena, the band's lead groupie, the idealistic and mystical Summerflower, feels real darkness closing in. At an apparently haunted chateau in France where the band is recording and relationships are fraying, she takes action--and then things get really weird. Prolific Doctor Who writer Cornell fills the book with knowing detail from rock music lore; band manager "Mr. Browley" is clearly based on notorious Satanist (and Jimmy Page influence) Aleister Crowley, and there's in-joke gold in the book's bonus extras. Cornell and Parker have seemingly modeled Motherfather's members at least partly on musicians from The Who, Led Zeppelin, and Spinal Tap. The last two of those bands are most relevant to the story, which goes a bit over the top. But what band back then didn't? VERDICT With sordid sex and drug-taking, this mature-readers occult comedy will easily win over fans of classic British rock.--SR

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